tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19362279465616539312018-03-06T05:05:58.685-08:00The Last LevelJennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-46872489620981850552010-12-10T05:59:00.001-08:002010-12-10T13:35:07.776-08:00EvaluationThis project has been an eye-opener in many ways. I started this specialist study with the intention of focusing on character animation and acting, wanting to really push myself as an animator to achieve something more fluid and technically advanced than I have done in previous years, as well as to gain a deeper understanding of the principles of animation and acting through narrative. However, as noble a goal as this was, I vastly underestimated that time it would take me to animate to such a degree of detail and as a result only managed to produce 12 seconds of animation that didn’t even complete the fight scene I originally intended. This was partly due to me being unpractised at drawing straight onto Flash with a detached graphics tablet, as well as my meticulous perfectionism that kept cropping up despite my attempts to work more roughly. But the truth is I honestly believe that this has been a worthwhile experience, and I actually feel like I’ve learnt more from taking my time and sticking to the focus of my specialist study rather than ploughing ahead in a desperate struggle to complete the piece on time regardless of quality. <br /><br />All my previous projects have suffered from time constraints; the inevitable corner cutting and rushed editing that comes before deadlines resulting in ‘finished’ pieces that I could never really be proud of. My strengths lie in narrative based animation and I hope to make a short film for my final piece in Specialist Study 2, but at the start of this year I had little inkling as how to go about that or plan my time in order to achieve a completed goal at industry standard. So in order to properly prepare myself (as I told that was the true purpose of Specialist Study 1) I decided to go through the development process of storyboarding and character design as though I was planning a narrative for Specialist Study 2 and would have more time. Granted there was no way I could ever finish it all in just ten weeks, but through doing this I’ve learned how long each stage of planning should take me and what I’m required to do before I start animating. Had I have taken another path for my first Specialist Study, I just know that come next year I would waste ¾ of my project time dithering over the developmental stage and never get round to animating anything decent since I’d have no idea how long it would take me to animate at high quality. Due to my work on this project I now know the speed at which I’m able to animate, as well as becoming far more skilled drawing directly into Flash with a tablet thanks to the practice, and will be able to plan my time better in order to complete a finished film next year. I’m also pleased with the outcome of the part of the fight scene I did manage to finish this time round: while I’m aware there will always be ways to improve it, I think it’s by far the best thing I’ve animated to date on this course. I’m glad I was able to push myself to this level by taking the time and care to add all the little details and secondary animation to the main movement, and I feel like I’ve improved my character animating skills significantly through my studies and practice. I also feel I have achieved my goal of loosing up, as my initial sketches to work out the basic action were much messier and quicker to draw than usual (before I cleaned them up, of course), and I think my lines of action became a lot more varied and flexible as a result, leading to more dynamic key frames. Hopefully I can only get better in the future as I continue, and preferably speed up my work pace in the process.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-29905063196775127332010-12-09T23:57:00.000-08:002010-12-10T13:40:35.520-08:00Final Animation<iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyN50Uvgt35Zg__HJUs4Hfb5lixKFogprBG1nsycXmr5-w_whBcVP7V3ocdg43XBcjPQ0jULJXi1qr1dgXmDA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br />...Or at least, as close as I can get it to being final considering my time has officially run out. If I had another week I would have been able to finish the fight scene and possibly go even further, but for now I'm satisfied with the outcome of this. It may be short but the fluidity is there, and all the time I spent agonizing over tiny details such as the curves of the hair seems to have paid off. I put my two existing scenes together and changed the line colour to black to give a more finalised appearance... Also to make the hair and body the same colour again to keep things consistent.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-87757234594288392692010-12-09T23:53:00.000-08:002010-12-10T17:08:40.139-08:00Finishing Touches<iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxr0qZ_nxJY01WWyHB46cVuH1efUv8xQ10e2YUqUZqFXCkIRH24Pb0mLjv0ryTOeg8sY3MqQ9NWx5z4EVagaQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Added facial expressions to the body, again making sure to focus on the eyes and how they widen/relax as she's jerked around.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwQaJjOkIoZMO6-vX3nTMzkuyJ_ZWwMfwpI2QEFNK9I452G6xeS-r4scg4t6k-uf1ymveLdvCiBIvWCK0CgIw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />I found the hair especially tricky here, mostly due to the strange perspective poses that came from her being yanked down at such an odd angle. There was a lot of frenzied trial and error involved here, but I think in the end I managed to make it work... The follow through of the hair as she's jerked across looks nice at any rate. As always, I try to keep the hair flowing at least one frame behind everything else.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzxvmza0szsbJeCgYfiDE5hH_CCqV-ME_0A_tKmDq445BVZSIko4OoWm4YG2VwGjQIiyEVaHW8u71aYmB8jhw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Everything up to this point is finished and clean! Since my deadline is just a few hours I'm sadly going to have to leave this here for now, but at least I know everything I've drawn is thoroughly tested and works reasonably well. Also finally put my two scenes together.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-58914652556228033222010-12-09T23:44:00.000-08:002010-12-10T16:58:41.848-08:00Running Out of Time...It's become apparent that I've serious underestimated how long it will take me to complete this scene... Even though I cut down from doing an entire storyboard to just doing the throw and fight scene, it seems unlikely I'll finish the fight scene on time given its length. It just goes to show how clueless I was about my own work process before I sarted this project; I was so used to being able to churn out a decent amount of average-ish animation in a few days that I assumed the same would happen here even though I'd upped the quality of my production. However the last thing I want to do is give up and stat cutting corners again in order to finsih the scene on time - that won't gain me anything and it'll feel like I've cheated myself. The focus of my study is convincing character acting shown through detailed and fluid animation, so rather than worry about it I intend to just keep on working as fast as I can and what I get done gets done. I'd rather have a shortened scene of high quality than a longer scene where you can instantly tell the quality drop 3/4 way through.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxj51CQoF0j-n7fbmLdiB-4dfPMfUm7tDu_PoOIT_cwFLwITAcSBO_86WtBezRhNDzxfiXQP6CyXkYFBzUJHg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxekgrFpixcWaPQ2YYbAqOXmC8G1sQkId7qsEsJRHvb6kXIcAFjCW9W8l4Rvdy4hwd6tzkuEIOw6eQhDfMxjQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Trying to make her look like she's really pulling the hair back from her throat with all her might was difficult, again because of her tiny arms. Exaggeration saved the day again here, keeping in mind the intense squash and stretch of the Tex Avery cartoons I stretched her arms accordingly to make it work.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dydsAFSwcBA5frDmXjM-tZ3PixO8cMT2GQWhb7lNpz7ILA_NY_rVdT1OfW28fHntcNkr5GhQ9r7huFLireR3w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Here we see her jerked upwards by the hair and across into a slanted slide (another move inspired by my old dance classes), a wonderfully fun, dynamic little pose that I really enjoyed drawing her into. But while I think the basic movement arc works well, it just seems too... mundane. The downwards anticipation isn't exaggerated enough; her head needs to dip lower in order for it to really work, I think...<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwItvqVk0Ods-05UMkkHvMIBnmkLh9qzWtNik0p15-u-W5_gtvLsft19l466BMj_JuBBgKnxlBmB1Y-sAFTyA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Lowering the downwards anticipation proved to be quite successful, but the settling bounce needs tweaking somehow...Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-54623058890702057592010-12-09T23:35:00.000-08:002010-12-10T16:40:09.053-08:00The Struggle Continues<iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwCH6qNmeJHsogPQKy_9AKm3Pnr3CUDfWNQx9x_xmGzQ0wGwHXinGZ_MK3uxSI9D1E0IPEfENvJXGWLpqqiZg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />From this point onwards I started building up the character in layers rather than trying to draw everything at once, as the hair was getting more and more complicated and it was hindering the flow of the body movement due to how much I had to keep rubbing out and correcting it. Every time the pigtails overlapped the body I ended up destroying all my hard body work while trying to fix the hair, so I created a new layer on top for the hair alone and decided to only start animating it once the body and facial acting was perfect. Above is the test showing only body movement.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzgGu-G029Q-JQCcyLXdMpoTNUsXvgMaiz2X6Kp1424ya7nNdRDHw4l2RebT5M4lp3qRHDLkUIdM1y7a5imFg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Same action but with facial expressions added. I spent a lot of time ensuring that the facial features remained consistent and didn't melt all over the face; a task easier said than done when her face is literally just a ball. I found it was very easy for the eyes of eyebrows to slide of course, making the flow look off. I also tried to add variance to her expression as she struggles such as her eyes clenching even tighter/opening slightly for only two frames before shutting again, her mouth contorting as she grits her teeth/gasps for breath etc. All tiny little details you probably wouldn't notice unless you zoomed in and went through each individual frame, but I feel it makes her struggle a lot more dynamic and compelling to watch rather than her keeping the same static expression. <br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwuLdssac7tmRNeAUU6VtWBhndlpVtp-CUQzX1DmMLAWDVMKg09PPDc-ZtxMLY1WDmTly3YkMT2IT_ZmxTA1w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Hair added in a different colour to make it easier for me to distinguish which line belongs where. The hair is technically a separate character from the girl at this point, so I think it was a good choice to animate it on a separate layer. It makes things far easier on me when I din't have to redraw everything underneath everytime I make a mistake, and thus speeds up my workflow. Also, I enjoy making sure that the body movement works on its own without any hair to hide possible flaws. This way even though I had to rub out most of the footwork that fell behind her pigtail, its still clear to the viewer that the hair isn't hiding any lazy corner cutting.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-76088269652069134082010-12-09T23:16:00.000-08:002010-12-10T16:20:30.142-08:00The Hair Attacks!The next part of the scene finally involves the hair leaping into action of its own accord, forming 'hands' from the ends of its pigtails as it does so. I wasn't sure how to go about this at first in order to get the movement right; I knew it had to be snappy in order to show the violence of the attack, but at the same time needed correct anticipation and build up to pull it off without being too slow. Before I began I asked someone to take photographs of my own hands in various positions/from various angles which I thought would make useful references for the hair hands, which you can see below.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZIIL2IMI/AAAAAAAAAdI/VGJcFF1Qq2s/s1600/IMG_2576.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZIIL2IMI/AAAAAAAAAdI/VGJcFF1Qq2s/s400/IMG_2576.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548954949556510914" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHaTQbWmoI/AAAAAAAAAe4/GXmhkSAgEmQ/s1600/IMG_2580.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHaTQbWmoI/AAAAAAAAAe4/GXmhkSAgEmQ/s400/IMG_2580.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548956240259226242" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHaMNN9FlI/AAAAAAAAAew/ENGyyvzhndg/s1600/IMG_2581.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHaMNN9FlI/AAAAAAAAAew/ENGyyvzhndg/s400/IMG_2581.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548956119138637394" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHaHsOYscI/AAAAAAAAAeo/GUxY5UKEIy0/s1600/IMG_2582.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHaHsOYscI/AAAAAAAAAeo/GUxY5UKEIy0/s400/IMG_2582.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548956041562599874" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHaDZA14uI/AAAAAAAAAeg/Am1Y_sJOWOE/s1600/IMG_2583.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHaDZA14uI/AAAAAAAAAeg/Am1Y_sJOWOE/s400/IMG_2583.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955967686042338" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZ_v0r-yI/AAAAAAAAAeY/C_NNvcMlv5c/s1600/IMG_2584.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZ_v0r-yI/AAAAAAAAAeY/C_NNvcMlv5c/s400/IMG_2584.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955905089600290" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZ1RbykuI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/7L98z0CkimQ/s1600/IMG_2585.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZ1RbykuI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/7L98z0CkimQ/s400/IMG_2585.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955725133419234" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZxKvHsTI/AAAAAAAAAeI/Jc6y9TOYlV4/s1600/IMG_2586.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZxKvHsTI/AAAAAAAAAeI/Jc6y9TOYlV4/s400/IMG_2586.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955654615970098" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZrWWNkpI/AAAAAAAAAeA/sTdGHeAFb6o/s1600/IMG_2587.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZrWWNkpI/AAAAAAAAAeA/sTdGHeAFb6o/s400/IMG_2587.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955554653508242" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZnNg-Q1I/AAAAAAAAAd4/6zAXlVcRT-4/s1600/IMG_2588.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZnNg-Q1I/AAAAAAAAAd4/6zAXlVcRT-4/s400/IMG_2588.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955483563246418" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZj33-WtI/AAAAAAAAAdw/ctuep2RpJOw/s1600/IMG_2589.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZj33-WtI/AAAAAAAAAdw/ctuep2RpJOw/s400/IMG_2589.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955426214533842" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZfojDWII/AAAAAAAAAdo/blq5SfB61rw/s1600/IMG_2590.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZfojDWII/AAAAAAAAAdo/blq5SfB61rw/s400/IMG_2590.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955353380771970" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZar7DtrI/AAAAAAAAAdg/5dIxTjiAh_4/s1600/IMG_2591.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZar7DtrI/AAAAAAAAAdg/5dIxTjiAh_4/s400/IMG_2591.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955268387419826" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZV1cL1tI/AAAAAAAAAdY/Ryoog7OM49Y/s1600/IMG_2592.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZV1cL1tI/AAAAAAAAAdY/Ryoog7OM49Y/s400/IMG_2592.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955185042937554" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZQa8hnzI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/R_0KgxYUgEU/s1600/IMG_2593.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHZQa8hnzI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/R_0KgxYUgEU/s400/IMG_2593.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548955092031479602" /></a><br /><br />As I was posing and trying to work out how exactly the hands would work best, I realised I was using my arms to represent the pigtails since human arms are naturally far longer than those of my character. It was then I made the connection with the arm positions of ballet (I used to dance regularly before I came to university): the starting position 'bras bas' looks very similar to how the pigtails fall around my character's feet before the hair comes alive. Or at least it would if humans arms where floor length, but you get the idea.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000cE29HThUWe4/s"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 500px;" src="http://c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000cE29HThUWe4/s" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQK_8K6liPI/AAAAAAAAAgg/3iM14rcf-oA/s1600/Screen2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 298px; height: 321px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQK_8K6liPI/AAAAAAAAAgg/3iM14rcf-oA/s400/Screen2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549208731317012722" /></a><br /><br />So I thought why not have the hair start to raise like a ballet dancer would raise their arms to second position?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000GTMMKlrQH0A/s"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000GTMMKlrQH0A/s" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQLAEHjoFeI/AAAAAAAAAgo/9FiHhsmrM_4/s1600/Screen1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 251px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQLAEHjoFeI/AAAAAAAAAgo/9FiHhsmrM_4/s400/Screen1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549208867854357986" /></a><br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw2gGVq2_WS-ezCgzwvfKhlSTmoxlza3Rd6TEJhMCyUotzjUH88ccF8tY-XCQjRxYOLqHmf5cMu8AtOUXFssw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />It worked better than I thought it would and made a good starting point for the action. From there I decided the pigtails needed an extreme accented pose before they went for the neck, again to exaggerate the violence and create more impact. Also I wanted to give the feel if a predator leaping into action... Having the pigtails stretched up as far as they can go was inspired by Niche (see below), whose pigtails often spike up into swords ready to attack the moment she gets agitated.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHYLyCyuJI/AAAAAAAAAdA/bFOmpWl2yYk/s1600/Letter%2BBee%2B-%2B05%2B-%2BLarge%2B10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHYLyCyuJI/AAAAAAAAAdA/bFOmpWl2yYk/s400/Letter%2BBee%2B-%2B05%2B-%2BLarge%2B10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548953912820807826" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQLAn0EC_6I/AAAAAAAAAgw/0HB_uFXX99g/s1600/Screen3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 270px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQLAn0EC_6I/AAAAAAAAAgw/0HB_uFXX99g/s400/Screen3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549209481096920994" /></a><br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwDC05kZgH7UPvILvWefg2h3541FtifKTf5eEjF5ijXNXqsK2S3F0i3xBV-amNZWYpZsR0zmKrNYD1OcIf6HQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />I didn't put a frame in between the peaked pigtails and the throat grab as I honestly felt it didn't need one. An extra frame would have slowed the lunging movement down, meaning less impact and less exaggerated reaction. I did, however, stretch the pigtails so they were far longer then they out to have been on the downward arc in order to make them flow better, and again, more exaggeration on the attack.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyWbPZbNDopc7L77mHwI6quf-St0HrzJym5oVQmwPnrCIOLdLmLXqKZ9PPmbNPQVuH-r2CpdN-nk89XepX4qw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Throat grab cleaned up with hair detail added.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-38464467777598189902010-12-09T23:08:00.002-08:002010-12-10T15:42:01.588-08:00Starting the Fight Scene<iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxpuMNO7dqBFsab9OXruo3LSym6nrm2T8n4TR3NKCw6n4vkOvjM70vRwSxHU89a5_gnQWuysC4CZ4PgLWpBww' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Starting from where I left off with my last scene, I began with the girl moving her head down to push herself up from the floor. I initially did this on 'ones' (24 rather than 12 drawings ('on twos') per second) due to the last scene only flowing fast enough on single frames; double frames made the throwing actions far too slow and sluggish. However it soon became apparent that moving her head down should be a very slow and sluggish affair in order to show how much effort its taking her to move and how possibly how weak she is compared to the hair.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx3I2AhB6TTWGpkqamQQukktTrumYgQAuUmMn1wT-LVEnBi9jHwGqXThzeoKv3wuhA_zVqJyB6h3rHEFVSw4A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Changed the first few frames to 'twos' now, this makes the movement a lot slower and more laboured, which is what I was aiming for.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzBgq2KK_aHQ2nEazSYY8yNnCf9YZsePyykjxbd0Nb4ZUQ5ZuFtChVTPXKgkArV3dAwxRE6TNH-K0KzcPKO' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Getting her to kneel up was tricky due to the shape of her arms... Since she has such tiny arms which come to a point at the hands/fingertips, I found it difficult to draw them from the correct perspective to show them facing towards the screen. In the end I got around this problem through vastly over exaggerating the enlarged perspective and literally made the arms 'shrink' as she pushes herself up. It took quite a bit of trial and error to make it look convincing, but the result works surprisingly well and has the added benefit of making her look like she's leaning/sitting back with a curved spine rather than just moving straight up vertically. It also allowed me to add more noticeable squash to the hands and she starts to push herself up.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwpIbfZE6Uw6fzsktr8qDgqv4FV76aAZ7-_kLi8CaFdQieN_9uICBw4ALilIxh9MNVQYZJnbowKz_QjoNkbWA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Standing up from the kneeling position was easier, but getting the hair to fall/trail correctly around her feet was tricky. I had to map out a curved line for the pigtails to follow, keeping perspective in mind and all the while trying to make it flow naturally like the soft hair it should be. I don't want the harshness to creep in until the hair actually comes alive, so its important at this stage to animate her hair and fluidly as possible. This includes the hair gathered above her hair ties; I spent a long time with a small brush and a very zoomed-in sage area making sure I got the subtle bounce of right has she stands. Its a tiny detail, but it makes all the difference, I think.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-18038093620338536942010-12-09T23:08:00.001-08:002010-12-10T14:21:05.237-08:00Animation ReferencesBelow are pages scanned from Richard Williams' 'The Animator's Survival Kit', by far the most useful and informative book I've ever owned. These pages are my main sounce of reference for the principles of animation I most want to focus on improving in my work. First one: flexibility. Vital for ensuring my character isn't as stiff as an ironing board.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIs8SkmvVI/AAAAAAAAAgY/4Jkt_CLoUkE/s1600/ASK%2BFlexibility.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIs8SkmvVI/AAAAAAAAAgY/4Jkt_CLoUkE/s400/ASK%2BFlexibility.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549047105163017554" /></a><br />Takes and Accents<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIs0Uiq9FI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/6d3tzA9koXQ/s1600/ASK%2BInvisible%2BAnticipation.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 334px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIs0Uiq9FI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/6d3tzA9koXQ/s400/ASK%2BInvisible%2BAnticipation.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549046968252822610" /></a><br />Surprise Anticipation - My poor character's going to be shocked a lot.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsxJFIUmI/AAAAAAAAAgI/epp2gjwz3jQ/s1600/ASK%2BSurprise%2BAnticipation.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 330px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsxJFIUmI/AAAAAAAAAgI/epp2gjwz3jQ/s400/ASK%2BSurprise%2BAnticipation.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549046913636520546" /></a><br />Invisible Anticipation<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsqrvIU6I/AAAAAAAAAgA/XUlnBxShmpQ/s1600/ASK%2BTakes%2Band%2BAccents.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 314px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsqrvIU6I/AAAAAAAAAgA/XUlnBxShmpQ/s400/ASK%2BTakes%2Band%2BAccents.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549046802680402850" /></a><br />Weight and Follow Through<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsm7QZ_II/AAAAAAAAAf4/ZHWrwVVsWas/s1600/ASK%2BTakes%2Band%2BAccents%2B2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsm7QZ_II/AAAAAAAAAf4/ZHWrwVVsWas/s400/ASK%2BTakes%2Band%2BAccents%2B2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549046738127027330" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsXs1peEI/AAAAAAAAAfo/nR4o2Dl-440/s1600/ASK%2BWeight.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 296px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsXs1peEI/AAAAAAAAAfo/nR4o2Dl-440/s400/ASK%2BWeight.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549046476558661698" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIscIIVJxI/AAAAAAAAAfw/oJHk0L9QZCo/s1600/ASK%2BWeight%2B2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIscIIVJxI/AAAAAAAAAfw/oJHk0L9QZCo/s400/ASK%2BWeight%2B2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549046552604256018" /></a><br />Whips and Waves - Especially useful for animating flowing hair. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsD55S4aI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/vPfac9ni9S0/s1600/ASK%2BWhip%2Band%2BWave%2BAction.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 348px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQIsD55S4aI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/vPfac9ni9S0/s400/ASK%2BWhip%2Band%2BWave%2BAction.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549046136466235810" /></a>Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-16178920699041170882010-12-09T23:07:00.002-08:002010-12-10T14:12:59.292-08:00Eyes Are The Windows To The Soul<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHqeTAvrwI/AAAAAAAAAfI/xBX0PxuXneg/s1600/ASK%2BEyes.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 176px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHqeTAvrwI/AAAAAAAAAfI/xBX0PxuXneg/s400/ASK%2BEyes.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548974022117535490" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHqbpP3SiI/AAAAAAAAAfA/ZcFIjSndH7w/s1600/ASK%2BEyes%2B2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 339px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TQHqbpP3SiI/AAAAAAAAAfA/ZcFIjSndH7w/s400/ASK%2BEyes%2B2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548973976546920994" /></a><br />Through studying the principles of acting and body language I've discovered just how important the eyes are in conveying a character's thought process. Eyes are very expressive and are widely regarded as the windows of the soul, so I intend to take extra care when animating my characters eyes and facial expressions. I intentionally have her a large head to encompass her larger than average eyes for this very reason, and I intend to make the most of it. While the fight scene will be to fast and action filled for any lingering, contemplative looks, I still think the principles of eye language are useful to know and to take into consideration. An interesting document detailing the secret messages eyes send us can be found <a href=" http://www.darcybrooker.com/pdf/Body%20Language.pdf">here</a>.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-14897451932390085702010-12-09T23:07:00.001-08:002010-12-10T02:23:25.572-08:00Ed HooksA useful piece written by Ed Hooks, found in his Acting For Animators Newsletter April 2010.<br /><br />"CRAFT NOTES<br />STAGE ACTING VS. ANIMATION ACTING<br /> <br />A simple improvisation that I include in all of my Acting for Animators workshops immediately highlights the difference between the way that animators perceive and apply acting and the way that stage actors do it. The Status-Negotiation exercise works this way. Two volunteers from the class are positioned at opposing sides of the stage, one far left and the other far right, facing each another. One is told he is the king (or queen), and the other is a slave. They are to pass one another in the castle hallway and exchange greetings.<br /> <br />An animator, given these instructions, will inevitably start imagining how a king looks and moves, or how a slave might grovel. When I say, “Action!” he will illustrate physically the idea he has in his head about how the movement should look. It is not that he is wrong, only that this approach guarantees stereotype movement. <br /> <br />Consider how two experienced actors would carry out the same improvisation. They have been instructed that one is the king and the other is the slave. A stage actor will respond, “Yes, and…?” In other words, “What am I doing as the king?” He will not be thinking of how his character moves or looks at all! (Notice I specified “experienced” actors. A novice actor might well do the same thing the animator does because he has not learned better yet.)<br /> <br />Animators think in terms of movement. Stage actors think in terms of communication, intention and emotion. Get those elements right, and they will dictate to you how the character moves.<br /> <br />After coaching this improvisation hundreds of times, occasionally with master animators as students, I have come to recognize that this is just the nature of the animator, to think visually, and there is nothing wrong with it. However, there is a marvelous object lesson. After the first time they move back and forth across the stage, I instruct them with an actor-type adjustment. “Give yourself a place where you are going, and we’ll do it again.” That’s all, just a place where they are going. It doesn’t matter where that might be. The purpose of movement is destination. Once the animators have a strong destination, they will no longer be thinking about movement, and they will cross in the hallway differently. Their bodies will move differently, more naturally, less self-consciously. After everyone in the workshop recognizes what has observed the improved movement, I instruct with variations of destinations. “The queen is in labor. Go to her.” “You spilled wine on the royal carpet and must clean it up right away.” “You are having a romantic relationship with the chamber maid, and this is your time together.” <br /> <br />The fact that an animator thinks visually, in terms of movement, is why it might be a problem when he acts out his own video reference for a sequence. He turns on the recorder, positions himself in front of the camera – and is self-directing, once again trying to imagine movement rather than intention. This is the reason I suggest that an animator have a friend act out the reference if possible. Just give your friend the situation. Don’t tell him how to move or what you want to see. “You’re trying to catch a dragonfly in a net.” You don’t say, “Be sure you look very frustrated.” Simply let him try to catch the dragonfly. That’s your reference.<br /> <br />What is your personal definition of good acting in animation? I will bet it has something to do with the creation of “believable” movement, even if caricatured. The point I am making is that acting training will not enlighten you about how believable movement looks. Acting training will encourage you to first seek the purpose of movement and then to be mindful of how it looks. <br /> <br />Walt Disney was very smart about these things. In his famous 1935 memo to Don Graham, he observed astutely, “Many [animators] do not realize what really makes things move, why they move, what the force behind the movement is. … [T]he mind is the pilot. We think of things before the body does them.” That is 100 percent correct."<br /><br />This was very interesting to read, as I've always thought that acting out references yourself was preferable to getting someone else to do it for you. I always feel I can understand the movement better after trying it myself, I highly doubt I'd be able to animate as well if I only watched people... But I do agree that its easy to over think things when you try to act on your own, I always find myself trying to plan the movement out in my head before I record, and then it always turns out stiff and horrible. Thankfully that wasn't the case so much with my video references for this project, as for the most part I completely winged them. They slower ones such as trying my hair and pulling myself up onto the desk were very planned, but when it came to the most important part (the strangling), I honestly had no idea how to go about it. So I just when crazy on a whim and ended up in a heap on the floor, laughing at myself. Granted the laughing had to go, but when I watched the footage it looks so much fresher and more dynamic than everything else I'd done, so I did a few more takes or similar actions to perfect them. I never considered my lack of planning to be a benefit at the time, but after reading this and looking back, it really was. Rather than planning out movements in my head, I was simply trying to imagine what I would do if my hair really was strangling me, and acted the first impulse that came to mind. His theory really does work! Now I just have to take this into consideration the text time I'm filming references; I think from now on I will try to ask someone else to act for me first, then attempt to copy their actions myself afterwards so I can still get a personal feel for the movement, Best of both worlds?Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-82028742766958739592010-11-18T20:08:00.000-08:002010-11-18T22:52:13.477-08:00Third Animation Test<iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxgjIaOVCyPPb3zUFDHQ0LXbt5zm2uXb-WfRfFItW2dm-XE2mHXtfjFeswa9OC7bAnFE6uyQfLKfOoufpMX2w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br />I made sure to stretch her body and head back out for the bounce in between the two landings, and added more squash to the second landing as well. The hair was especially tricky here as I had to carefully apply follow through in order to make sure the hair was always a few frames behind the body in movement, as hair always drags along behind due to being so much lighter. I also wanted to ensure that all the movement didn't suddenly stop the moment the body settled, as that would look horribly stiff and unrealistic, so I added the secondary animation of the face turning to the side so her nose and mouth isn't squished into the floor anymore. Overall I think all these components together make the sequence look quite effective, and its certainly feels a lot more fluid than anything else I've animated so far.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-55878338395589495462010-11-18T20:06:00.000-08:002010-11-18T22:43:40.842-08:00Second Animation Test<iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyLQK5MBXjAdByS7L_KWU1Rsgk2K8T2k0ve-jTryDIiw7mAsFFHgBV_NTzVOY6VVmSsMz46k2V9OfilCXBH2w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br />I went back and adjusted the arc of the hair as it trails behind her so it flows more smoothly, and made sure to add plenty of squash to the girl's head as she lands for the first time so she appears to be more rubbery like in Tex Avery's cartoons. I think it's vital for her to bounce a little after hitting the floor, otherwise the impact just seems far too static and lifeless. Anticipation is crucial in these instances, so I added an extra frame (it makes all the difference) to the first landind to really exaggerate the squash of the head as it drived into the floor. I also keyed in a few frames to plan out the second and final landing.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-56728677305015243842010-11-18T16:57:00.004-08:002010-11-18T22:31:47.427-08:00First Animation TestI decided to begin with scene 26 of my storyboard since this is where the action truly starts and things get interesting with the girl's hair coming alive. I fear I may have been a little over ambitious planning out an entire short film for such a short project, and whith the deadline drawing ever closer I'm afraid I won't finish the entire animation in time. So for now I'm going to focus on the most important parts of my narrative; this being the fight scenes between the girl and her hair. The focus of my specialist study is character animation, so it is vital I concentrate on delivering convincing acting and fluid movement in order to achieve the goals set in my proposal. I would much rather hand in several well done scenes which are animated to the best of my ability and effectively demonstrate my learning outcomes than an entire film I've rushed and skimped on, cutting corners in order to save time. I'm not getting marked on cut corners, and cutting corners will not help me improve my skills as an animator. I intend to animate as much as I can in the time I have left, then have the rest of the storyboard as a cleaned up animatic in order to properly introduce the narrative.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TOX5FHvi4kI/AAAAAAAAAcg/ZbrHdLpDfEo/s1600/Screen1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TOX5FHvi4kI/AAAAAAAAAcg/ZbrHdLpDfEo/s400/Screen1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541108782922392130" /></a><br /><br />I started by importing the necessary storyboard pannels into Flash to use as key frames, as this gets me started a lot faster and saves me having to try to draw out the exact same poses again from scratch. I then tried to work as loosely as possible, keeping my drawings rough and sketchy rather than getting hung up on my line art being perfectly pristine before making sure it works like I usually do. I chose to work in blue for this reason, as black feels too final to me and I'd be temped to clean up every frame before moving on. This way the movement feels far more fluid and I can make changes much easier without feeling like I've wasted my time, and I think my animation is benefiting from it. <br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzbJjff6cblmby88EtkVJ88fpxJmqqKp-i0am7igN7LNhu88MzeTpXVuL80gFAWrDo0I_W7ICEtLGGNf9pmuA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' />Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-10720721440826910762010-11-18T16:57:00.003-08:002010-12-10T12:37:02.853-08:00Animated Hair ReferencesAs much as having long hair of my own is handy, it still doesn't make for the best reference when you're trying to animate hair doing something other than just falling down your back. I know animating long hair well is very difficult, and I find I can often judge just how big a budget for a production is just by how well they animate hair since that's usually one of the first things that gets skimped on when money gets tight. And no wonder, its a time consuming task! Below are some examples I've found of what I think think to be well animated long hair:<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OcYWfpPxA9s?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OcYWfpPxA9s?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />First up is the second ending theme to the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood anime, which showcases one of the best examples of hair flowing in the wind I've ever seen (and I've seen a <span style="font-style:italic;"></span> of anime hair flowing in the wind). The clip in question is at 0:12-0:23, and I love how the animators have taken the time and effort to show all the individual strands blowing in such a convincing and diverse manner, varying the way they waft over her face each time rather that just animating it once and sticking it on a loop which is usually the trend in such instances. Naturally this is far too detailed for what I hope to achieve, but it still makes a great reference and really demonstrates the whip-like 'figure of eight' movement the strands follow as they ripple.<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F_yjgbXLcPM?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F_yjgbXLcPM?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Skip to 1:02 for this one; the brief clip from the Kobato anime as she spins around to face the viewer. Yes its intensely sugary and in slow motion, but I actually find the slowness helps me read the movement better, especially since this whipping of the hair is very over exaggerated. Normal hair of that length would barely move from such a small turn, considering its weight. But regardless, exaggeration and fluidity is what I'm going for, and I feel this demonstrates both quite well, albeit rather hazily on the visual side.<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cva6Atk8Q2A?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cva6Atk8Q2A?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Skip to 0:43. More relevant to my interests this time, this short scene demonstrates Niche's (the girl I referenced for my character design some weeks earlier) hair sword in action, and for once they're animated very fluidly with great exaggerated perspective and weight. While its still obvious her swords are made of hair by how flexibly they move, they still have an appropriate density to them that shows they have a life of they're own and aren't merely strands being blown by the wind. That's the kind of balance I want to strike with by character's hair once it comes alive, as I don't want the hair to appear too soft and weak to do any damage, yet at the same time I don't want it to be too rigid as it will just appear stiff and unrealistic.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TkV-of_eN2w?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TkV-of_eN2w?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Pocahontas: were every other scene shows her hair billowing epically in the wind. Thankfully her hair is animated beautifully, as can be expected of Disney, and makes for a great reference for the follow-through and weight principles of animation which I'm trying by best to improve in my work.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/A0NUdxfTkxw?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/A0NUdxfTkxw?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />A line test I found which was inspired by the Pocahontas style, this beautifully demonstrates hair whipping round as it follows a sharp head turn. I find studying it to be very useful, as I could clearly see how the hair follows an arc as it moves. A common factor I've noticed while watching well animated hair is that the strands seem to flow in figures of eight, the tips always flicking back the opposite way to the upper body of hair depending on the direction of movement. Hopefully studying these references will allow me to animate my character's hair convincingly.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-65824248141290212462010-11-18T16:57:00.001-08:002010-12-10T01:25:42.419-08:00Tex Avery<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bp0xTbsOoMw?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bp0xTbsOoMw?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Tex Avery is well known as one of Wanrer Bros. most influencial animators, steering the house stryle away from Disney-esque animation and more towards flamboyant, vastly over exaggerated cartoons that could appeal to both children and adults alike. His cartoons are revered for their wit, irony, and sarcasm, a refreshing take on animated comedy that I feel could be of use to me as I work on animating my own character. Above is the 1955 cartoon "Chilly Willy: The Legend Of Rockabye Point" directed by Avery, one of my personal favourites of his, and is showcases how brilliantly simple yet well executed his gags are, so much so that that never cease to get old despite the entire six minute cartoon focusing on repeating the same instance over and over again. The way the gag is carried out becomes increasingly over the top each time to the point of being rediculous; the part being seeing the mightly polar bear being thwarted by the tiny penguin he tried so hard to keep away from his food. <br /><br />While my narrative isn't intended to be pure gag-riddled comedy (I want to go for something more subtle and fluid to really push my technical skills), the exaggerated poses and use of comic timing in Avery's cartoons makes an excellent reference point, and I hope to utilise some of these principles in my own work.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-2151480109327984612010-11-04T16:31:00.000-07:002010-11-18T22:15:05.285-08:00Revised Animatic<iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxpkZdylZEDTq-DI5lxFdcgOpRNqNs2iT0m-4hXWH9JCnh6PDJG11ZXJw0TCwcbfRGpxYSbYwHi71TJeE4f1Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br />My revised and final animatic, using scans from my revised storyboard. And now with the addition of sound! I took some of the sounds from my previous video references and recorded some extra sound effects specifically for certain parts in order to breathe more life into my character and to demonstrate how the story will flow more effectively. Overall I think the addition of the sound makes quite a big difference even though there's still some silence between the action scenes, and ripping sound from my video references also proves that I managed to time the action scenes correctly since the sound clips fitted their relative scenes perfectly.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-91191793147193720182010-11-04T16:27:00.000-07:002010-11-18T22:09:18.276-08:00Revised StoryboardHere is my revised and final storyboard, having made the changes suggested to me from my tutorial last week. In order to give the ending more depth and meaning, thus making the viewer more likely to buy into the dream twist and accept it, I decided to have the girl's hair wrapped around her neck and mouth when she woke up. I often wake to find my own hair managed to tangle itself around my neck while I've been turning over in my sleep, so this is a perfectly plausible explanation which ties in to why she dreamt of her hair trying to strangle her. It also allows for a more dramatic were she trusts her hair away after waking, this time pulling it back from her mouth and gasping for breath like she was suffocating, even thought that clearly isn't the case. Such an intense reaction thanks to the peril she felt in the dream will be far more compelling to watch than her simply flinching away from her hair even after she's realised she's awake. This way her sudden fear shows the viewer that she's still coming round and can't quite distinguish dream from reality quite yet. I also added one final twist at the very end; having the hair hand raise into the shot over her shoulder as she looks at the calendar to show that it wasn't really all a dream after all. I think this is a much more fun, interesting, and creepy way to end things, as it will hopefully leave the audience questioning what is real and what isn't, and naturally, what will happen to the poor girl? I think such an open ending with no real conclusion or concrete evidence as to what the fate of the main character will be is far more entertaining and more likely to linger in someone's mind after the film has ended than the ending I had before, so I'm glad I've made these changes.<br /><br />Lastly, I went back to the desk scenes and added stationary and paper to make it appear more cluttered and to take the emphasis away from the scissors. After showing this revision to my tutor again he says this addition fixes the problem perfectly and that the action of the character is much clearer to read.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNCN-jzK1I/AAAAAAAAAcI/nq9e_xZK8us/s1600/BHD1(2).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNCN-jzK1I/AAAAAAAAAcI/nq9e_xZK8us/s400/BHD1(2).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535841174867356498" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNCJcg1fsI/AAAAAAAAAcA/HEOtbvaiYdA/s1600/BHD3(2).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 294px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNCJcg1fsI/AAAAAAAAAcA/HEOtbvaiYdA/s400/BHD3(2).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535841097008643778" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNCEWGn7kI/AAAAAAAAAb4/KTXmItnOX5U/s1600/BHD4(2).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNCEWGn7kI/AAAAAAAAAb4/KTXmItnOX5U/s400/BHD4(2).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535841009388744258" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNCAStrhZI/AAAAAAAAAbw/o4ZWeJT5teM/s1600/BHD5(2).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNCAStrhZI/AAAAAAAAAbw/o4ZWeJT5teM/s400/BHD5(2).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535840939759338898" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNB4f9hJmI/AAAAAAAAAbo/cxBnbiBl-bU/s1600/BHD11(2).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNB4f9hJmI/AAAAAAAAAbo/cxBnbiBl-bU/s400/BHD11(2).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535840805876475490" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNBzqUWU2I/AAAAAAAAAbg/_mdeTTGHXIs/s1600/BHD12(12).jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNBzqUWU2I/AAAAAAAAAbg/_mdeTTGHXIs/s400/BHD12(12).jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535840722757243746" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNBpQNuR-I/AAAAAAAAAbY/C2TzANrdFUQ/s1600/BHD13.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 296px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TNNBpQNuR-I/AAAAAAAAAbY/C2TzANrdFUQ/s400/BHD13.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535840543951439842" /></a>Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-27631193078736066292010-10-28T21:35:00.000-07:002010-11-18T21:40:39.910-08:00Bad Hair Day Animatic<iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwBhIa1GbgX-rtmhxPYy78c9JFANn1liM3gfj64UFgBp311bMytLB7Uysxku9zIRJRPIGqIOjszqJXPK7Bfng' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br />I scanned in the panels from my previously posted storyboard and imported them into Windows Movie Maker to make this animatic. At the moment its not the most effective since I don't have any sounds or music to help give an idea of how it will flow, but I intend to do a revised animatic later once I've ironed out the kinks in my storyboard. For now I simply wanted to get an idea of the timing of each scene and see how long the narrative runs at a whole, and I think I've planned it out fairly well time-wise. I used my video references to ensure the actions scenes don't drag on too long and tried to match them up as closely as I could to the live footage. All in all the animation should last about 1:40-50, which I think is a good length for a short film at this stage of the year.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-80432327182174255502010-10-28T21:23:00.001-07:002010-11-18T21:55:47.337-08:00StoryboardHere's my first draft of the storyboard for my animation. I spent a long time drawing out as many of the key poses as I could between the actions scenes so that I can scan them in and use them as key frames for my animation to save time later. Unfortunately the story is far from perfect, and after showing it to my tutor and several of my classmates, some rather glaring errors were pointed out to me that are necessary to correct. The first and most important one was that the ending was far too cliche. Her suddenly waking up and realising it's all a dream rather seems like a cop-out in hindsight, as though I couldn't fully commit to the twisted idea of the hair coming alive, and that's the very last thing I want. Admittedly I think I let tiredness get the better of me when I came to draw the ending, but the truth of the matter was that I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to end the story without it dragging on for several more pages. If I had months and months to work on this then I would dearly love to develop an interesting conclusion to the battle, but unfortunately time is of the essence and I must take my deadline into consideration. If I hope to get this piece anywhere near finished by the time December comes, I need to keep it short and sweet, which it why I ultimately opted for the dream sequence. Luckily my tutor pointed out a way in which I would save the ending while keeping the dream concept in place, since the fast pacing of my animatic (which you can see in the post above) built up the tension of the struggle well before suddenly cutting to the waking scene, which I was told was quite effective. Basically I need to make the dream more meaningful by linking what's happening in reality to what happened in the dream world. Sounds in your room while you sleep can often affect what you dream of, so its only natural other things can make such an subconscious impression as well. <br /><br />I was also told that it was confusing why the girl was reaching for the scissors on her desk the first time but didn't cut her hair, when really this wasn't my intention at all. The first time she pulls herself up to her desk, its simply to get her hair bands to tie up her hair, but because I'd left the desk so sparse and empty other than the scissors and hair bands, it automatically looks like she's reaching for the scissors since they're closer to her. This can be easily remedied by adding more paraphernalia to the desk to take the focus away from the scissors, so I plan to add stationary and such when I go back and revise my storyboards.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOyDS0KEI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/YInZ9YEUVsg/s1600/BHD1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOyDS0KEI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/YInZ9YEUVsg/s400/BHD1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533321713962723394" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOm24OFzI/AAAAAAAAAbI/iXmY4ldl8sQ/s1600/BHD2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOm24OFzI/AAAAAAAAAbI/iXmY4ldl8sQ/s400/BHD2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533321521651390258" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOa06sgdI/AAAAAAAAAbA/XVcXYYDg3vA/s1600/BHD3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 295px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOa06sgdI/AAAAAAAAAbA/XVcXYYDg3vA/s400/BHD3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533321314966471122" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOQRVG_cI/AAAAAAAAAa4/6xvdc0xm2tQ/s1600/BHD4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 290px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOQRVG_cI/AAAAAAAAAa4/6xvdc0xm2tQ/s400/BHD4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533321133614890434" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOAmPMcSI/AAAAAAAAAaw/I5ySqMCFWnw/s1600/BHD5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 288px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpOAmPMcSI/AAAAAAAAAaw/I5ySqMCFWnw/s400/BHD5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533320864349319458" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpN3JONP3I/AAAAAAAAAao/3Jg0u-v3-qM/s1600/BHD6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 290px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpN3JONP3I/AAAAAAAAAao/3Jg0u-v3-qM/s400/BHD6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533320701941727090" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpNsRfh5aI/AAAAAAAAAag/UrEKf8S6fzA/s1600/BHD7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpNsRfh5aI/AAAAAAAAAag/UrEKf8S6fzA/s400/BHD7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533320515183306146" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpNeTrrbvI/AAAAAAAAAaY/a5EVMlduQnc/s1600/BHD8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpNeTrrbvI/AAAAAAAAAaY/a5EVMlduQnc/s400/BHD8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533320275252965106" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpNR1jTULI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/nBsfWhcHO7Q/s1600/BHD9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 294px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpNR1jTULI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/nBsfWhcHO7Q/s400/BHD9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533320061006336178" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpNHXa_2oI/AAAAAAAAAaI/nOkvxDJ0iBs/s1600/BHD10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 291px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpNHXa_2oI/AAAAAAAAAaI/nOkvxDJ0iBs/s400/BHD10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533319881119750786" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpM5a9uu2I/AAAAAAAAAaA/VJpBZT32ThM/s1600/BHD11.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 294px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpM5a9uu2I/AAAAAAAAAaA/VJpBZT32ThM/s400/BHD11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533319641552567138" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpMisDdrPI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/sjFt2OZODJ8/s1600/BHD12.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMpMisDdrPI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/sjFt2OZODJ8/s400/BHD12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533319251003026674" /></a>Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-53037790544530729792010-10-21T19:59:00.000-07:002010-11-18T19:47:16.140-08:00Video ReferencesSince I plan to animate a lot of actions I've never attempted to draw before, I got one of my housemates to film me acting out several of the more tricky scenes I have in mind so I could get a good feel for the movement and use the videos as references for my work later on. This turned out to be even more beneficial than I planned; a lot of the actions proved more difficult for me to do properly than I origianlly thought, so I ended up doing a lot of retakes as I figured out exactly how I wanted my character to move on screen through my own trial and error. Thanks to this I think I am about ready to fully draw and plan out my storyboard, as prior to this the direction I wanted my narrative to take was rather fuzzy.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzJumoTSyfKug6U30Fzu_Fux1x7mp2Dg_AoKYBAsH1l384OzamGXSZbrON_QJqplMZfKOncIQaIpRUO5OuGmw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Despite my hair being far longer than average, its still too short in comparison to my character's hair (which touches the floor) to make a convincing reference alone, so I tied a blanket around my neck and wore it as a cape to create a similar effect, making sure to over exaggerate my movements to make them easy to read even through the mass of hair and blanket. I found this particularly useful as it helped me get a feel for how cumbersome having something floor length attached to you can be, and I insantly felt more clumsy and exasperated while moving around in it, which is exactly how I expect my character would feel in her situation. I made sure to do plently of 'tripping over/slipping on the hair' attempts with the blanket to be sure I understood the movement and the weight of the hair dragging against me.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwbyMHy1EycP515KGjxxVBKXps_5EQGaJuBar-GwP07F_r_Qz9kOh65rHyhtlPHNI4GS0LPLV9pBrpZxQALtQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy7PtVRRh5ItNDLBSarm45YdEaRVHeBSryOnIZQ-fycWfXSpmCxKqT_bcMLTrcWmTtDDs1sn0FOUes_T8iM_A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Hauling myself up to desk level was fun to do; I imagine my character would be exhausted from dragging her hair across the room/falling over it and such, so much so that simply moving from her bed to her desk would be a huge effort for her, especially when she's just woken up. To emphasise this, I made sure to do one hand at a time on the desk before slowly pulling myself up to show anticipation, and then added an extra jerky flop to my head once I managed to do so to demonstrate the 'follow through' animation principle. I always try to act like I'm going to animate, as this helps me exaggerate my video footage accordingly when I come to use it as reference.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dynL3mkpQPBbTDVyMJuAxH4FgBMa4duKLGKBalfg-BPfY7w-e8429m2jDh863_xFeJ4ZMevQU8Otvt460XwSQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />I tried to exaggerate pulling my hair through into pigtails as best I could, allowing my arms to flop lifelessly to my sides afterwards to show my annoyance and how little I can be bothered with fighting with my hair.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzanz-Z1fqCfqvTwFjxVaXraARv6zLpuO_psZADx81Q0jJhRcMIQP5PguJriIi6o3lPfEZrnr6llOqtOWRULA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />A test shot of me climbing out of bed and 'standing on my hair', causing my head to jerk down painfully as I try to stand up straight. Naturally I had to fake this, but I tried to keep the movement clear and over exaggerated to easily show what's going on. I also tried throwing my hair out of my face to show how annoyed my character is of it hindering her.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwe8sMQ_thnDJcyc5Z3ZRkYB_xb7zIijF3-NkOffP-jeYjYQ2AB5xBvdGbgLB5EI_SQZRKkKDTWq8Kn4W9jmA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />Easily the most fun I've ever had video referencing, this is one of my attempts at showing my hair strangling me, complete with hair wrapped around my neck! I tried to make it as interesting and diverse as possible, staring standing before working my way to the floor as the hair gets the best of me. Since I wanted the action to be spontaneous like it would be if my hair really did come to life and attack me, I didn't really plan this before hand and just winged it, which I think made it turn out a lot better.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy52CV_POihlzr_5SGZoLNRQB_4kAb4rnOeQfec84c17CTEgsMpeuJHpjqXOrZvwNQBLoV6eYobSizdBsxoJQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwiNvG87-4wlFWTxkuhHXOyIWJAtZeoMQlJ3TWvJdyBSUvQu9Fl-p7H2qVRM-sBxqOlZdUCzu1VJC2qyhUACg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />For these two I used a scarf to represent the hair wrapping around my wrists, and I found it really useful for limiting my arm movements which I wouldn't have been able to show convincingly if I'd simply left my wrists free and pretended.<br /><br /><iframe allowFullScreen='true' webkitallowfullscreen='true' mozallowfullscreen='true' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzmKZuOrSw_hAtB6gCYuh7wEH_FbnkO6Hs7rB94PyP_ajT2m9hAXkUxEE0agEd2HmLS2rhl_MN8YlC9c22XDQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' FRAMEBORDER='0' /><br />And last but not least, the tumble-turn! This was my first time doing one with hair down (I have to confess, I was a little scared of it getting caught in something and me winding up in a tangled heap), so I found it very useful to see how my hair reacted to the roll and followed my head (which I will exaggerate further to demonstrate the follow through principle in my animation), as well as how it landed when I sprawled across the floor on my front at the end.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-43776031829929142782010-10-21T19:56:00.000-07:002010-12-10T12:33:25.407-08:00Acting Research!<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EJMLWhXQA_4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EJMLWhXQA_4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Charlie Chaplin was the slap-stick master of the silent movie era and is easily one of the best examples of acting you can ever hope to find. The above clip from his 1931 film 'City Lights' is an excellent example of staging and comedic timing, as well as acting in general. The great thing about Chaplin's films is that he rarely ever changes his expression, yet still manages to convey a wide range on emotions and connect with his audience through bodily action alone. I chose the boxing scene in particular as it relates to my own fight scene I have planned with my character, and I hope to implement the principles used here in my own work in order to make my character more believable. One of the first things I noticed from watching was that the two fighters almost always stand in profile when they face each other, making their postures and lunges very easy to read so the audience has no trouble following the action despite the lack of sound. They also mirror each other, often dancing around the ring in circles rather than actually fighting, and this gives the composition of the scene a nice feeling of balance and prevents it from becoming to hectic, as well as allowing for the comedy to build up as the same gag is repeated to greater effect. The camera follows the two around, sticking to them like glue so they are almost always framed perfectly in the center of the shot, ensuring that the audience doesn't become distracted by anything else in the background as well as, again, making the movement very easy to follow. The poses are exaggerated and defined well; if you were to imagine this film as a story board you would have no trouble understanding what was going on even in static pictures. I think this is the key element I need to focus on - my storyboards must be crystal clear and make good use of staging in order to properly get my story across. I likewise intend to keep my character framed in the middle of the shot during her fight scene, and I want each storyboard to contain a pose at the peak of movement (the accent) so each stage of the fight flows clearly from one pose to the next as it develops, much like Chaplin's boxing. Furthermore, if I do this I would then be able to use said storyboards as keyframes to help get me started animating.<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XChxLGnIwCU?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XChxLGnIwCU?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Back to animation, 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' from Disney's Fantasia is another great example of character acting, this time in a similar context to what I'm aiming for with my story. Like my character, Mickey finds himself overwhelmed by what was previously an inanimate object under his control, putting him in grave peril as the brooms revel in their new found lives. What I really love about this, and in particular the scene at 5:03, is Mickey's face as he struggles against the current to try and get to the steps, and later as he tries to climb out the well against the waves of the water being thrown in. Rather than just being a simple change from one facial expression to another, his expression contorts and flickers in between the two accented points as the water hits him; his eyes squint and he shakes his head while gasping for breath, making the struggle so much more believable. I really want to include detailed secondary animation like this in my own work, as I think its the tiny little details that most people often overlook that really make a character come alive.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-85939202053641564292010-10-21T19:55:00.001-07:002010-12-10T01:12:04.931-08:00Final Character DesignHere it is, my final character design! After asking several people (both teachers, students, and friends) their opinions it seems the low tight pigtails were the most popular, and upon further reflection I'd have to agree. While I really like the high pigtail design, due to how short her arms are it would actually be impossible (or at least extremely difficult) for her to reach the top of her adorably huge head in order to tie her hair up in the morning, so the low pigtails are really the most logical decision. I also like how they look the closest to real arms since they tie close to the neck, which is near where her real arms start.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMD9Vf_GQSI/AAAAAAAAAZw/puqZeBMT3gg/s1600/Final+Design.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMD9Vf_GQSI/AAAAAAAAAZw/puqZeBMT3gg/s400/Final+Design.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530698888216199458" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TP2uXxoFBZI/AAAAAAAAAco/SSx3_SUzLKQ/s1600/Silhouette%2B1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TP2uXxoFBZI/AAAAAAAAAco/SSx3_SUzLKQ/s400/Silhouette%2B1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547782039471981970" /></a><br />My character design in Flash. I found her surprisingly easy and pleasant to draw into Flash with my tablet, which I think shows I made a good decision to simplify my design what what I had previously... Hopefully she should be enjoyable to animate. For now I'm keeping her black and white with a only a little shading to emphasise her eyes and hair ties, but I may add colour later if I have time. I'm also pleased to discover she looks very distinctive in silhouette, making her easily recognisable in a variety of poses. I think adding the gaps to the corners of her hair above the hair ties was a good idea, as this not only allows me to animate her hair flowing more freely (rather than just as one clumped together mass) but also makes it more obvious where her hair is in silhouette form.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMD9N8gOVII/AAAAAAAAAZo/qrsvzftZWtU/s1600/Character+Turnaround.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 202px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMD9N8gOVII/AAAAAAAAAZo/qrsvzftZWtU/s400/Character+Turnaround.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530698758432380034" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TP2ui1z4oLI/AAAAAAAAAcw/zlIiXLcFVp0/s1600/Silhouette%2B2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 202px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TP2ui1z4oLI/AAAAAAAAAcw/zlIiXLcFVp0/s400/Silhouette%2B2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547782229573804210" /></a><br />Turnaround of my character so I know how she looks from each angle.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-11949605368281548752010-10-14T19:58:00.001-07:002010-12-10T01:04:36.985-08:00ProposalA little late, I know, but here's my official proposal for the project:<br /><br />For my first specialist study I want to produce a short character animation based around my idea of a girl struggling against her overly long hair: a living entity in itself which is fighting back against getting cut. Rather than being sinister or twisted, I want to take a more light hearted and comedic approach, portraying the life-or-death battle in a very cartoony manner using a cute character design. The target audience will be young adults around my own age, especially girls since I’m fairly certain every woman in existence can relate to having a bad hair day. I will show my work to my classmates as it progresses to get feedback and ensure I’m on track. The animation will be 2D and drawn digitally on Flash.<br /><br />Through this project I intend to learn the principles of acting in detail by researching body language and studying the works of practitioners who are known for their acting and character animation skills, such as Ed Hooks and Charlie Chaplin. I will use the knowledge gained to convey my story purely through acting and without the aid of dialogue, hopefully compelling the audience to connect and empathise with my character through her actions alone. In addition I will look at previous animations that have centred on inanimate objects gaining lives of their own and either fighting back or causing trouble for the person who’s supposed to be controlling them, such as the works of Patrick Smith and possibly Don Hertzfeldt. I want to implement humour through exaggerated poses and facial expressions in an attempt to make my work feel more fluid, since my previous animations have felt rather stiff and controlled. For the character herself I’m going to look at characters from games and animation that I know to have hair that moves independently from the body and study how each variation differs in design, purpose, and movement.Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-23576399590706580192010-10-14T09:28:00.000-07:002010-11-11T21:56:49.526-08:00Character RefinementI decided I needed to simplify my character while still keeping the basic shapes and ideas from my last design, as well as refining my narrative to fit the character. Its all well and good to have an epic struggle planned out in my mind, but time is of the essence and since character animation is the focus of my specialist study 1, I need to ensure I can animate the action scenes well enough to connect with the audience rather than relying on gags such as hands popping off. With enough time and planning, that idea could possibly work well, but with how short my animation will be, I feel it'll probably disrupt the flow of the fight and feel disjointed, so I'm shelving that idea for now. Going back to the basics, I asked myself what the defining character traits of my girl needed to be, and I came to this conclusion:<br /><br />1. She needs to be young and small. Youth will make her innocent and easy for all ages to identify with, not to mention more clumsy and inpatient with her long locks. If age has taught me one thing, its that I'm a <span style="font-style:italic;">lot</span> more patient with my hair now than I used to be as a child or teenager. Making her short will also exaggerate her hair trailing along the floor and pooling around her, making it easier for her to get lost in it, so to speak.<br />2. She needs to be cute. Some may say this is a given in order to appeal to the audience, but the cute factor will serve a far greater purpose. That is- its so much more fun to <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreakTheCutie">Break The Cutie</a> than it is to be mean to a mean, grisly looking character. A mean character deserves bad things to happen to him, but a sweet, cute character doesn't. I find this makes them much easier to sympathise and empathise with when bad things do happen to them, not to mention a whole lot more interesting. And hopefully, the humour of the little cutie getting attacked by her own hair will appeal to the people my age (who I imagine will mostly be male) who don't find cute things endearing and would rather see them squished anyway. This way I'm hoping I can get my character to appeal on multiple levels to all kinds of people of both genders.<br /><br />With that in mind, I expanded my character research to look at squashed, cutesy character with large heads, expressive eyes, and very simple clothing. I especially like how the image below just has the character in a hooded dress and nothing else, its sweet, simple, and gives the character a charming innocence. Also, considering that my character will most likely start her day getting out of bed, its logical for her to have nothing on her feet.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLc4W3qf9MI/AAAAAAAAAZI/2huq7d8qwRY/s1600/Atashi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLc4W3qf9MI/AAAAAAAAAZI/2huq7d8qwRY/s400/Atashi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527949033171055810" /></a><br />(Atashi - <span style="font-style:italic;">Chobits</span>)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLc397DObmI/AAAAAAAAAZA/9mgkMEfJzKQ/s1600/Pon+and+Zi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 372px; height: 387px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLc397DObmI/AAAAAAAAAZA/9mgkMEfJzKQ/s400/Pon+and+Zi.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527948604583341666" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLc36ndxP6I/AAAAAAAAAY4/7RuALqtXO_4/s1600/Pon+and+Zi+2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 279px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLc36ndxP6I/AAAAAAAAAY4/7RuALqtXO_4/s400/Pon+and+Zi+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527948547786358690" /></a><br />(Pon and Zi)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.neoseeker.com/ca/animal_crossing_ds_conceptart_Xflph.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 439px; height: 600px;" src="http://i.neoseeker.com/ca/animal_crossing_ds_conceptart_Xflph.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLcwbqBA3hI/AAAAAAAAAYo/d3ujWJc4C4M/s1600/ACwallpaper.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLcwbqBA3hI/AAAAAAAAAYo/d3ujWJc4C4M/s400/ACwallpaper.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5527940319313714706" /></a><br />(Town residents - <span style="font-style:italic;">Animal Crossing</span>)<br /><br />Below are my revised character designs influences by the new references I've gathered. I much prefer how this new design has turned out, and after showing it to several classmates and other people my age, I've gained a positive reception saying she's endearing and seems like she'd work well in the narrative I'm planning. I've drawn her in several different poses with three different pigtail hairstyles since I wasn't sure which would work best, and even now I'm honestly now sure... I think the bottom design with the low loose pigtails is probably the least suitable since, again, it'll be difficult to distinguish clear 'arm' poses with such loose hair. For now I'm going to ask more people in my target audience to vote of which hairstyle they prefer in order to get some feedback.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLfH_KkuNtI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/QG9iXiTKJS8/s1600/Evolved+ideas.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 283px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLfH_KkuNtI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/QG9iXiTKJS8/s400/Evolved+ideas.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528106955604637394" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMD84TOiftI/AAAAAAAAAZg/rHFEgpjtXFY/s1600/Hair+Attack+Concepts.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 246px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TMD84TOiftI/AAAAAAAAAZg/rHFEgpjtXFY/s400/Hair+Attack+Concepts.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530698386575097554" /></a>Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1936227946561653931.post-41756189026798373382010-09-28T18:47:00.000-07:002010-11-11T21:18:04.225-08:00Character SketchesHere are my initial character sketches, starting by just experimenting with simple shapes and hair design. I didn't include any arms or legs at this point because they're really secondary to hair at this point, and I want to ensure I get the relationship between the body and head/hair right before I start adding limbs. I wanted the character to have a large head, much larger than the body, in order to emphasise the hair and allow for wide eyes and much more expressive facial acting. I also played witht he possibility of using a hair band to define the 'wrist' of the hair hand to make it easier to see where the 'hand' stops and 'arm' starts. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLfIIFxYsJI/AAAAAAAAAZY/slkUYSXLmW8/s1600/Initial+ideas.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 288px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TLfIIFxYsJI/AAAAAAAAAZY/slkUYSXLmW8/s400/Initial+ideas.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528107108934398098" /></a><br /><br />Once I'd got an idea for the general shape/proportions of the character, I started adding detail such as hair, clothes and feet, keeping to the simpleand limbless Rayman style for the time being. I went for a triangular shaped body since these tend to have a good center of blanance and work well with the large circular head, allowing for a thin, distinct neck line which easily spreads out into the wide hips usually associated with being female. The wide hips also make the perfect base for a dress to hang off, completing the girlish appeareance. I still left the hands out at this point since I wanted to make sure the hair worked as arm/hand substitutes and without actual hands being present to divert the viewer's eye. I'm glad I took this approach because I soon disocovered that the way I was drawing the hair was took thick and volumous, making it difficult to define the posing of the arms. You can tell the drawings below wouldn't look particularly great in silhouette. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TKKbOaOGLdI/AAAAAAAAAYg/LCkllODuNn4/s1600/Shayla+Sketches.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TKKbOaOGLdI/AAAAAAAAAYg/LCkllODuNn4/s400/Shayla+Sketches.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522146764968570322" /></a><br /><br />Next I tried refining the hair; making it thinner and more shaped so it would be easier to read as 'arms'. I also started adding more detail to the dress, shoes, eyes, and design in general, going for a very swirly style inspired by the celtic fairy tale style of the Rayman 2 game. ...Then I soon realised that my character was regretably morphing into a bit of a Rayman clone, which is the very last thing I wanted to happen. I think there are still some good aspects to the design which I'm glad I explored, but overall she looks too generic and fantasy based, not at all like she belongs in a narrative about a normal girl who can't whether or not she should cut her hair. Also all the swirly details seem rather unnesessary and would be a pain to animate... I think I need to refocus myself and home in on my narrative and the kind of girl I want to represent that story. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TKKbLYrFYKI/AAAAAAAAAYY/mwFf5d56dUE/s1600/Shayla+Sketch1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 298px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TKKbLYrFYKI/AAAAAAAAAYY/mwFf5d56dUE/s400/Shayla+Sketch1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522146713013674146" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TKKa-WKFEbI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/kRIMzXmr-8E/s1600/Shayla+Sketch2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PfwdM2Dkc4Q/TKKa-WKFEbI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/kRIMzXmr-8E/s400/Shayla+Sketch2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522146489000071602" /></a>Jennifer Padgetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07282376451549152376noreply@blogger.com0